Posts tagged issues
Podcast Episode 3: Legal Issues in Second Life
Jun 24th
Episode 3 of MUVE Forward The Podcast is available (length 18:36). In this episode I discuss (ramble) through ideas and thoughts regarding legal issues educators should consider when working with learners via Second Life (and virtual worlds in general). As always, the recording is definitely rough since it’s recorded via a cell phone while driving through rush hour traffic. I do not have professional production values! It’s all about the information.
In advance, a quick note of appreciation to AJ Brooks (RL: AJ Kelton) for the weekly SLED Roundtable he hosts on the Montclair State Island. One of those weekly meetings prompted this thought thread. And, a quick disclaimer – I’m not an attorney and do not claim to be one in any shape, form or fashion (and haven’t slept at a Holiday Inn Express recently either), so if you’d like a professional legal opinion, please contact your institution’s legal team.
Summary of topics:
- FERPA (U.S. Federal Law, Family Education Rights & Privacy Act)
- Copyright & IPR (copy bots, potential issues with Linden ToS – note below)
- Safety (griefing, cyber-bullying, sexual harassment, virtual to real world acts)
- Finance & Purchasing Requirements (institutional policies & guidelines)
The court case I mentioned but for which I couldn’t remember the name was “Bragg v. Linden Research.” The brief details are described in Wikipedia. The case was settled out of court, so the issue didn’t reach a public conclusion to set any precedent; I do believe the case hints at the issue I highlight in the Terms of Service in the podcast, and it likely will surface again at some point in the future.
Overall, I believe physical world laws and existing, institutional Acceptable Use Policies may be capable of governing the first three issues, but institutional guidelines, policies and requirements may have to be revised or amended to accommodate the use of institutional funds to purchase virtual “products” and, particularly, virtual currency. This may be more of an issue for institutions which are publicly funded by taxpayer dollars.
Listen for more details!
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Loading ...The "F" Word(s) and Second Life
May 10th
Funding.
After a week or two of exploring Second Life, educators will either drift away from “the grid” to become just another avatar that hasn’t returned in the last 30, 60 or 90 days. Or, the “F” word likely becomes an issue.
So, how does one go about getting funding for a project in an environment that is not a proven instructional tool, comes with arguably more hype than the internet did more than a decade ago, and has a terrible reputation in the media for being full of sex-starved avatars looking for throw-away virtual sex?
It’s certainly an issue, and I know there’s any number of projects that have been funded. However, to give our Budget Managers a break for a moment and setting aside the Funding question, I’m curious how many institutions have considered another “F” word regarding Second Life.
Fiscal Policy.
Maybe I’m missing the boat on this one? Is this not an issue? Or, has everyone else simply been avoiding their institution’s Director of Purchasing? Or, are we just not talking about the issues that potentially make our CFO’s collective heads spin faster than Linda Blair’s?
Sure, when there’s only one or two faculty members or specialized departments engaging Second Life, it’s perhaps not an issue. Is it just me, or is Second Life not potentially the purchasing department’s tempest in a teapot when talking about broader, institution-wide implementations of Second Life?
If faculty are going to make instructionally-related purchases in Second Life, do they just use institutional purchasing/credit cards? Did I miss the “We accept Purchase Orders” sign at Second Life? Do I mail my institutional check directly to Rosedale?
What about Budget Control? Don’t we need to verify what we purchased with our institution’s $200US? Will indicating the purchased item to be “Lindens” – quantity “6000″ – be enough for the auditors? Granted Lindens are virtual and arguably part of a software acquisition, but is purchasing Lindens all that different from purchasing a Euro? or a Peso? If I need to verify the commodities I purchased with the 6000L provided to me by my institution, do I really need to list 600 different file uploads at 10L each? Is my “Dress Shirt with Flexi-Tie by Blaze Fashions” a valid purchase; I mean, after all is said and done, shouldn’t my institution help me establish my virtual presence necessary to teach my students? Ah… and then there’s the custom laptops for my student avatars to have for my class at $1000L each. Can I buy materials for my students in my class? Is that a lab fee or rolled into tuition?
Even if I list everything out – piece by piece, file by file – who’s going to verify it? What really constitutes misuse of virtual funds in a virtual world? And, if I purchase something with institutional funds, it belongs to the institution, right? What if the privileges are no transfer, no modify? To use it, my avatar has to own it, but how do I give it back to my institution? What if I use institutional funds to support my building of a project – say uploading textures etc using school funds – but I own that project. What if I decide to keep it? How will my institution recover that virtual product they funded if it’s in my virtual pocket? Oh… wait… that’s more along copyright and IPR policies, but that’s virtually a different ball of wax all its own.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...SL Grid Strain – Linden’s Contingency Plan?
Feb 26th
Brett Bixler writing for the Penn State University Virtual Worlds Blog called this issue to my attention; I believe it is important enough of an issue to cross-post here.
Linden Labs’ official Contingency Measures to Ensure Service as Second Life Grows was published on the LL blog a little more than a week ago. In summary, when use peaks to the point of causing grid slow downs (typically on the weekends), the Grid Status will be changed to Restricted which means that only premium account holders, land owners or those that have purchased currency on the LindeX will be able to log-in. Users not meeting those criteria when the status of the grid changes will not be affected unless they log out; they won’t be able to re-enter the grid until the status changes back to normal.
Bret, I believe, accurately indicated in his blog that this Contingency Plan could have a disproportionate impact on education-centered users. If you’re using SL as a means of communicating with your students, you should consider and/or ask your students several questions… Do you qualify as a SL resident able to log on when the grid is Restricted? To what extent are you using SL for academic activities during weekend hours? Can your schedule be modified to engage class activities during SL’s non-peak hours? Is the $10/month for a premium account beyond your financial resources?
As Bret also suggested, you might consider posting a comment to the Official LL blog requesting they review their contingency plan and consider the impact it may have on educational endeavors; copying and pasting his comment may be an effective choice.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Identity and Education in Second Life
Jan 12th
This post is not going to beat the familiar drum of the age old identity issue that’s “plagued” distance learning: the question of whether the RL person behind the avatar is who they say they are; is it really John and not John’s talented, free-lance writer friend that is taking my Composition 1 class? Second Life presents an entirely different identity issue with which education will have to cope.
Riddle me this Batman. When you enter Second Life, is it a virtual you that you see in your avatar? Or, is your avatar nothing more than a character in the “game” you’re playing and fantasy you’re engaging – much like the “avatar” of Marcus Fenix you “become” when playing Gears of War? Thus far in SL, the range of identity attitudes individuals have in regard to their avatar has made an impression upon me.
SL as an Extension of Reality. My purpose in SL is to explore the potential, very real applications of SL technology to learning environments; in RL, that’s my chosen profession, and it’s very much a part of my personal identity. So, I not only identify with my avatar; my avatar is an extension of my real-life, personal and professional identity. I attempted to make Topher Zwiers look as much like Chris Duke as my SL skills would allow (although he’s slightly thinner ;-), and I firmly believe the salient social presence Topher creates in SL is identical to my own. Others that have met “Topher” and try to describe him to someone else later could be describing Chris. Or, at least, that’s my intent. I’ve met other SL residents with the Extension of Reality perspective as well; if I describe their SL presence, I’m describing their RL personas as well: Adam is a reporter/bureau chief for Reuters News; Alaric is a distance learning educator teaching Math and Phyics; Louis is an concert pianist; Farimhoo is a foreign language instructor; Neville is a librarian from Millersville University, and Kiwini is a designer/builder for Clear Ink. Going a step further to extend their RL identity into SL, there are even SL residents that are attempting to attach an image of their RL face to their Avatar.
SL as an Alternative Reality. Others’ purpose in SL is to engage activities and a persona which is beyond the realm of possibilities for their RL persona, and SL may present game-like challenges for them to accomplish. From FurNation to the gun trade to the sex trade, there are wildly varying purposes and uses of SL that are unrelated to RL identities, and forgoing a discussion regarding the general merit of such activities being part of or treated as a game, each has a potentially justifiable place in Virtual Reality. I’ve encountered residents that role play across varying historical periods, and those that find it a challenge to build/script fantastical weapons and characters we’ve only seen before in video games and fantasy comics. I’ve chatted with a dragon, an elf like creature, and a very small white house cat – all residents and RL people just like me.
The issue for education will be when these two worlds collide. What happens when an alternative reality infringes upon or becomes juxtaposed with an extension of reality?
First, I personally experienced an instance where an alternative reality infringed upon my reality in SL. A resident engaged in an alternative reality (or at least I hope so) included me in his alternative reality without my consent. Building objects and learning at Campus Second Life sandbox, another resident (can’t remember his name, but it had the number 7 in it) entered and began “shooting” everyone with a weapon that launched the “victim” a significant distance from where s/he was standing. He shot me more than a few times, despite my attempts to ignore and move away from him initially; he even seemed to target me specifically after my first request that he stop. After asking him to stop again and threatening to report him, he finally responded, “Best Game EVER!” Not all alternative reality folks are as inconsiderate, and we did have a decent conversation about scripting and building after that, but educators must be prepared to deal with situations where an alternative reality infringes upon reality.
Second, Second Life juxtaposes reality and fantasy in a way I’ve never witnessed before; reality and fantasy sit side by side between and possibly within individuals. Unlike my RL identity, Chris, it’s possible and “safe” for Topher to be an educator by day and a gunrunning pimp by night, but it may not be safe for Chris if Topher engages that dual personality. Where does one stop and another begin? What separates the educator from the gunrunning pimp persona? That sounds ridiculous to me, and perhaps to you, because it seems obvious to me that the two are different: one’s real and one’s a game. However, are they really separate and distinct? And, even if I can separate the two, can everyone else? If I make a concerted effort to create a real life persona in SL via Topher, why would Topher’s becoming an infamous gunrunning pimp NOT impact another RL educator’s opinion of Topher as an educator? of Chris as a RL person and educator? Even if I can separate the two persona’s, can someone else do the same? It seems that there will be at least a concern, if not a very real danger, that a learner could perceive the real life education conducted via SL as too much like a game? In an educational “game” juxtaposed with an alternative, fantasy reality, I believe it’s very possible for any hint of educational ethics to disappear entirely.
Ultimately, teachers and learners need to be aware of the two perspectives so that they know which they are applying and which is appropriate in a given situation and how they may respond if one perspective intrudes upon the other. While it may not completely resolve the issue of extension of reality versus the alternative reality, I believe learners using two different SL identities for different personas may help reduce the blurring of the lines between a “this is me” identity and a “this is a game” identity.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Ultimate Distance Learning?
Jan 9th
This past Sunday (Jan 7/07), the New York Times offered an article focused on the value of Second Life to enhance or improve distance learning: Ultimate Distance Learning. As an educational technologist with an emphasis in distance learning and new technologies, I would tend to agree, and many of the activities to which the article refers – collaborative projects, social opportunities for learners, interactive discussions – are in fact valuable enhancements to distance learning, particularly given the manner in which those activities are facilitated in Second Life.
However, the leading image caught my attention before I was even able to read the article, and it made an impression.
If distance learning facilitated via Second Life begins to look too much like this on a regular, consistent basis, we should stop! Unfortunately, there’s more than a few examples of learning space in SL looking exactly like this one.
The attractive benefits of internet-based distance learning are completely lost in such an environment. Quality internet learning is fundamentally different from most face-to-face environments; internet-based distance learning has typically been asynchronous, multimedia enhanced, and learner centered/directed. Recreating the classroom environment in SL removes ALL of those features, and we end up back in a synchronous classroom with limited multimedia presented in an instructor-led format. We shouldn’t use SL to simply replicate the classroom environment; we need to find innovative ways to do things differently. Otherwise, SL actually could become the unfortunate embodiment of “learning online being no different than learning face to face.” That’s not what we should be trying to do with this medium.
Second Life offers rather unique opportunities for learners: to engage virtual, authentic activities, to collaboratively develop meaningful products and spaces, and to engage one another in socially and intellectually meaningful discussion beyond the constraints of a traditional classroom or even a traditional internet based course discussion board. There’s no reason SL learners should be sitting and listening/reading an instructor; I did attend one meaningful class on basic prims that was set, basically, in a pasture. Each SL’er found plenty of space and began rezzing prims; of course, the instructor was talking/chatting/typing as we went, but each individual could determine their own pace, and each remained active throughout the session. That’s the kind of active learning we need to be engaging.
If distance educators are to use SL to enhance instruction, we should be using SL to do things we can’t do in the classroom: attend or produce live music concerts, engage in political discussions with political leaders, participate in open SL poetry writing classes with other SL’ers, take (or create) a SL generated tour of the solar system, attend an open seminar/discussion focused on contemporary issues (Myspace as a resource?), become an art critic after visiting a SL art exhibit, peruse a library or museum exhibit, or participate in online conferences just to name a few. If we’re busy recreating classrooms and uploading powerpoints or videos into them, we’re just doing what we’ve always done, and SL is anything BUT an ordinary tool with which to teach.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...SL Moves to Open Source
Jan 8th
This is by no means a scoop on my part, and it’s not specifically real life education in second life. However, the news that the Second Life client application is now open source and that there are plans for the server application to be open source in the future is extremely relevant to educators at all levels.
A quick, time-sensitive side note: Linden Labs has a Technical Town Hall scheduled for tomorrow, January 9th at 5-6pm CST to answer additional questions about SL Open Source; the Q&A will, of course, be in-world at Pooley Stage. Now, back to the importance of Open Source SL for educators . . .
First, Linden Labs is embracing the Open Source & Open Content movement. The Open Source/Content movement has been building for some time in the education market; it has not yet reached critical mass, and the full reach of the OS/C influence has yet to be seen or estimated. But, with an increasing number of institutions participating in the movement – MIT, Rice University, Berkeley and others – open educational content is becoming a reality. For Linden Labs, a large and somewhat influential player in the current proprietary market, to open source their client sets a precedent for others to follow, and it makes a proprietary interface open to modification by those striving to incorporate the technology into learning environments. If/when the server application is open sourced, educators and the general community at large will benefit further. Very simply, when large, profitable companies make their products more accessible and financially available to the general public, educators benefit.
Second, open sourcing creates opportunities for educational developers. A group on my mind currently that should definitely benefit and thrive from the Open Sourcing of SL is the Sloodlers (SL group). Sloodle is a modified version of the open source learning management system Moodel; Sloodle seeks to merge the existing learning management system into the Second Life environment, basically creating an in-world content management system for educators delivering instruction via SL which may also be mirrored via a traditional website. Given the Open Sourcing of SL, it should now be possible for Sloodlers to create, if necessary, a customized, open source version of the SL interface that can support learning more effectively than the original SL viewer. At the very least, the open source allows a better understanding of the viewer which will enable the creation of tools that further enhance the SL experience for learners.
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